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So after crowning Jamie xx’s “Loud Places” and Bob Moses’ Days Gone By as the greatest single and album of 2015 respectively, we now switch our attention to what we can expect to hear over the next twelve months in the world of dance/electronica. The first big album out of the blocks this year is Moth (Jan 22), the third album from alt-pop duo Chairlift, which judging by its first […]

The Pirate Bay Fiasco: When the Industry Wins Music Piracy Lawsuits, Who Gets the Money?

So let’s talk about music piracy again. Here’s scruples question for you:

If the issue surrounding music piracy is that artists and labels aren’t getting proper payment for their music, then when music industry companies win a piracy suit—who gets the settlement?

The Pirate Bay lawsuit has made news headlines for several years now, as a copyright infringement joint civil and criminal lawsuit was filed in Sweden against four people who ran the torrent website The Pirate Bay. Besides prison time, as Hypebot reports, the defendants were ordered earlier this year to pay a total of around $677,000 to several major labels, including EMI, Sony and Universal. The dollar amount supposedly represents what it would have cost the defendants to license the music legally.

Now, in a case of apparent hypocrisy, it has become known that said major labels have no intention of sharing that award money with the artists who lost royalties as a result of the copyright infringement by The Pirate Bay. Instead, they will use the money to fund more infringement lawsuits.

Beg pardon? Wasn’t the issue here about people not getting paid for their work?

Now, I don’t mean to trivialize the piracy issue here—not in the least. Whether or not the “old guard” of the music industry is taking the right tack by trying to sue every music pirate they can find is up for debate; my personal belief is that we need to adapt the system rather than try to uphold an old system that isn’t working anymore. But when a lawsuit does get filed, and when a settlement is awarded—shouldn’t the creators of the music get their share of that award? Aren’t they the reason the labels are in business to begin with?

Or are the labels not actually interested in paying their artists, after all? It begs the question.

To me, this points to a serious lack of integrity within the music industry itself—one that points to the fact that the real objective (at least when it comes to the record labels in question) is not actually about giving the songwriters and musicians their fair share. Rather, it’s more about winning—about who has control of the music. The fact that not one, but several major labels have chosen to retain full control of the award settlement says that they are not that interested in paying their artists at all—that is, unless the law makes them do it. Apparently, the law that The Pirate Bay breached through copyright infringement doesn’t also tell the labels that the settlement money (which represents actual licensing fees) has to be shared with the artists. Unfortunate.

So to answer to the question I posed earlier: When music industry companies win a piracy lawsuit, who gets the money?

Apparently, the lawyers do. So they can sue more people.

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About the Author

David Tillman is an independent composer/arranger whose primary work involves writing jingles for commercials for radio and television, with several film and television placements to his credit as well. David has a fascination for all things related to the music business and the music industry in general, an obsession which his wife finds to be mildly unhealthy at times. His personal tastes in music are in electronica and industrial rock, and include The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk and Nine Inch Nails (he loves that Trent Reznor is writing soundtracks!).
When not in his office or in his man-cave, David enjoys skiing, hiking, the occasional game of golf, and sometimes just lounging by the pool. David lives with his wife and three children in Los Angeles, CA.